ET reported that 4 months after its refinery was shut down at Lanjigarh in Odisha's Kalahandi district due to non availbility of raw material, Vedanta Aluminium Limited sought bauxite security to run the 1 million tonne per annum plant.

Mr Mukesh Kumar president & COO of VAL said that "We shall be grateful, if some urgent action is taken for ensuring bauxite supply to the plant as agreed in the MoU between Government of Odisha on June 7th 2003 and amendment thereto on April 4th 2007 so that the plant can resume operation at the earliest."

Stating that VAL's refinery in the tribal dominated and backward Lanjigarh block remained closed since December 5th 2012, Mr Kumar said the company had been pleading for bauxite availability since a long time. The matter was also raised before the Ministerial Committee on mineral supply to local industries on February 15th 2013. Closure of the plant has impacted the overall economy of the region as thousands of people have become jobless due to the closure.